'With his 2010 album, ‘Neostatic’, Jude Gwynaire mixes up a stiffener to clear the head and fortify against the rigours of the day. Triple measures and muddy cocktails are off the menu. We are going on a trip, and Jude is in the driving seat – our tour guide for this tangential odyssey!
Don’t come in search of stuffy rhythms and claustrophobic chord structures. Jude’s soundscapes here are open and expansive – he drives with the top down! He has discovered a big sound – abstract yet metropolitan – ever-reaching towards distant horizons, sweeping upwards, doffing his hat to the Muse as he builds momentum through the brass-inspired opening track, 'Ocean City Girls'.
Now we find ourselves powering through innerspace, a transcendental journey, via 'Ultra Ride', 'Nano Mountains' and 'Box of Delights' – the next of several stand-out compositions. The prismatic soundscapes, depicted on the album’s sleeve, are conjured up with expansive gestures and broad strokes – bigger than imagined, ornamented by a florid top line – an 'Embryonic Water' of evolving complexity as we plunge into 'Miss Lollipop', 'Incense Train' and push onward to ‘The Language of Colour' and 'Neon'.
Jude rises to the technical rigours of independent production to prove himself a virtuoso, with no small amount of flair, and by his close attention to detail, earns our attention. His playing is organic and varied throughout and his toolkit is deployed with a deft touch to bolster the emotional punch.
A well-oiled, finely-tuned engine purrs under the bonnet and we never miss a gear as our impetus drives us through the remaining tracks, and we emerge, once again, into dreamspace, passing through the 'Hypercube', the jazz-tinged 'Late Nite'and then on into infinity with 'Electric Star' – the glittering skyline of a futuristic metropolis, fast-receding in our rear view mirror.
(Toby French - UK film critic and producer - and designer of album artwork).
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